Reunions and sunny CA

This year I (Sarah) celebrated my 10 year high school graduation. After a lot of convincing, John agreed to accompany me to the reunion. We actually had a much better time than expected. I thought it would be nice to have a little get together with some of my close friends the night before the official reunion so we could catch up and our spouses could meet each other (that way John wouldn't be too bored at the reunion). Anyway, we had a pot luck dinner at one of my friend's house and it was really fun. There was one slight mishap though. We forgot to change our clocks when we changed time zones so we ended up being an hour late to the party. When we got there Lesa came up and greeted us saying, "We were starting to think the worst happened. Did you drive in today?" I told her we didn't and was completely confused as to why she would think that and why all of my friends were exactly on time. Anyway, someone mentioned the time change and we felt pretty dumb. But, it was still lots of fun. The official reunion was two parts: a daytime BBQ for the whole family and an evening reception for the adults. The BBQ was fun and Ali got her face painted for the first time (sorry no pics). The reception wasn't that great. I am really glad that we went to both, however because there were several people that I wanted to see that went to one event or the other. John started a new job at Yahoo in August. He flew out of Boise from the reunion to California to start training. He is a Training Specialist and is really enjoying his new job. He is so happy to be out of the utility industry and back into a really professional working environment (the free vending machines and bagels on Wednesdays also help). While John was in California, Ali and I went with Bonnie to southern California to visit Kelly and Loren and celebrate Grandma Stevenson's birthday. It was a really long drive but Ali did wonderfully. We had so much fun! Kelly and Loren are really great hosts. My favorite part was the time we spent at the beach. I went boogie boarding for the first time. It was so fun and I couldn't get over how warm the water was! Ali had fun too. She loved running from the waves and playing in the sand with Grandma. Here are some pictures: Here Ali is doing a "sand angle". When she sat up after, you could see the imprint of her curls in the sand. I still cringe when I look at this picture but hey- we're at the beach, right? I gotta let her have fun sometimes. Kelly, Grandma, and Alicyn
Kelly also took us to a fun outdoor shopping spot with lots of fun places to get wet. We had a lot of fun eating way too expensive ice cream and riding on the merry-go-round. Giddyup! There was a really talented balloon artist who could make almost anything you can think of. Grandma bought Ali a Piglet balloon. Ali had a lot of fun pushing him around in her stroller. (I think he looks like the Pink Panther in Piglet's clothes.) Then up to Huntington Beach for the big party. We had a lot of fun with Great Grandma and Grandpa at the park. Here Grandpa is attempting to put the bow back into Ali's hair. It took a little while but he managed it in the end. Check out his hat(s). Then it was off to the pool party at Chrissy and Matt's house. Though Ali is getting pretty good at swimming now, she didn't want to leave the little pool. Kelly and Loren were kind enough to stick close by since it was too cold and windy for me to get in with her. Naturally, Ali spent a long time showing off for Kelly and Loren by diving for sticks. Cousin Emily was kind enough to spend almost an hour blowing bubbles with Ali after swimming. Ali is still talking about this. It was a wonderful trip and we can hardly wait to visit there again.